I can hear many of you asking what on earth a Mealie is, or am I wrong?
I'm talking Maize here, yes, we call white Corn a Mealie. It's not as sweet as yellow Sweetcorn, nor as nutritious, as the pigment that gives sweetcorn its yellow colour, is beta carotene, and turns into vitamin A when digested.
I was curious where the word Mealie came from, as we use the word 'Mielie' in Afrikaans, and discovered that the South African English speakers actually adopted an Afrikaans word!
It often is the other way around!
Borrowed from Afrikaans mielie, from obsolete Dutch milie (“millet, maize”), from Old French mil (“millet”)
Source - Wiktionary
I learned from a young age that white mealies have to be picked when they're still young, and eaten as soon as possible. Once picked, the young sweetish and moist kernels slowly start turning into starch, so the longer you leave it, the dryer and less tasty it becomes.
That's exactly what happened to me this week, I was way too busy and forgot to cook the mealies, but I remembered the delicious steamed Mealie bread my Ouma used to make when mealies were harvested too late and were sold at bargain prices.
Back in those days, nothing went to waste.
I promised my friend @carolynstahl a while back that I would attempt this recipe by using the mealie husks as a wrapper, making little parcels, and steaming the Mealie Bread in it.
My Ouma and later my Mom, used to keep all the flour sacks, wash them and save some for steamed Christmas puddings, Mealie Bread, while others were used for household cleaning.
I was quite apprehensive at first but ended up having great fun with these parcels, and then became concerned again, wondering how the bread would turn out.
I need not have worried, as it was really delicious eaten hot with vegan butter melting into the bread!
I carefully removed the husks and set the best ones aside for my parcels, some were torn into thin strands to become the 'string' to tie the parcels together.
You can see just how old and dry these mealies had become, but I grated them till I had 2 cups, as per Ouma's old recipe.
The ingredients are so simple, yet the end product is really delicious!
The Recipe
- 500ml grated fresh white Mealies
- 50ml Cake Flour
- 5ml Baking Powder
- 5ml Salt
Mix all together, spoon into a husk, cover with another husk, and tie the parcels together with the husk 'string'
I used a large deep pot, put a stainless steel stand inside, and added hot water to a level just below the stand. The water must not come into contact with the bread parcels.
I placed the lid on and steamed it for about an hour.
Parcels are unwrapped to reveal little loaves of steamed Mealie bread.
Sliced, buttered, and eaten on its own, Mealie Bread is a meal in itself, something I imagined must have happened during the Depression years when my Ouma grew up.
My Mom sometimes used to serve it as an accompaniment to a main meal, probably the only time my one brother (I had four!), would eat anything close to a vegetable!
Pure and simple, this steamed Mealie Bread is something anyone can easily whip up, place in a steamer, and just leave to steam while socializing in the Hivesphere :)
BON APPETIT EVERYONE!
Original Content by @lizelle
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This recipe is very good @lizelle. Corn recipes are always so delicious and comforting! I'm going to try to replicate it, I think I saw sweet corn for sale near my house, I'll do it and then I'll tell you how it turned out.
Note: That is vegetable margarine, right?
Hi @sirenahippie, yes it's a vegan margarine. I just call it vegan butter😉
I really look forward to seeing your version, I'm sure it will taste even better with sweetcorn, possibly may have to add a little more flour as the white mealie has less moisture.
There used to be a tag #myturn when e tried replicating recipes shared here in Hive, time to revive it perhaps as it's interesting to see the different interpretations as we don't all have access to the same ingredients.
Bzzz!
But I wouldn't mind hearing what Mealie's of colour think of all this. = }
You really don't like it when we spell things correctly do you dear @dandays! I think those coloured melies are just spoilt thinking they're everyone's favourites!
I was just looking at the abundance of corn husks that I had leftover, and wondered when you would make some corn bread. It looks like fluffy clouds. I don't think we have that corn anywhere in this place but it does inspire me to concoct something based on "mealy" bread. I'll have to eat with my eyes haha.
Thanks @lizelle !!!!😊
I'm sure it would be even better made with sweetcorn, I must try that but may have to add more flour as thw sweetcorn has more moisture trapped inside.
How about it @carolynstahl, I'm sure you'll come up with a really good variation on the theme😉
Wow a simple mealie bread recipe at long last, my Mom grew up through depression as did Dad, Mom baked, this was an all time favourite. Now I will give this a bash....
To be totally honest with you, I love a mealie not too fond of sweetcorn, perhaps it is the way we were brought up. Dad grew mealies, we had African folk cycle around and still do selling fresh, still my preference over sweetcorn any day.
!LADY
Thank you Joan, it really is an easy recipe, delicious and a nice way of using up white mealies when they're too mature. When it's young they definitely taste better, also brings back memories of childhood days.😍
Will have to try bake some they look fun too, I cook mealies in their leaves more often than not, holds in the flavour, still enjoy them when in season.
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Oh My ! That looks and sounds so good !
Love the fun way you cooked them in the husks and your presentation is really nice.
Pass some over here, wouldja ?
Meali looks a lot like a side dish that we make here, in Venezuela with which roast chicken is usually eaten.
Oooohhhhhh I read your post now. This looks so good and delicious. My whole family likes mealies. Yummm. 💐💐
So many white corn you've got there🤭.
It's just so nice to see that there are other ways of preparing this corn and enjoying them.
Over here we either boil the corn or roast it before eating..
But this looks yummy,I wish I can have a bite of it😊😊
It is looking very special and delicious I liked more steamed food than fried maybe one day I will try it.
Have a great Sunday 💓😊
I don't think I've seen white corn/maize here. Do you think it can be made from oldish yellow corn too?
They look very delicious!
They would go great for breakfast or dinner!
Thanks for sharing!
I also came for the Mealie and left, safe in the knowledge that you weren't using Mealy worms which in the UK, we use for fishing!
But is it bread, or cake as there is no yeast in the recipe?
Hope you've had a wonderful weekend :-)